KF.COLLKCTIONS OF A F1IEE TRADEtt. 325 



ground), and passed out of the gate, at the very moment when the 

 clergyman and clerk were entering in haste. 



In a few minutes all was uproar. After some little remonstrance 

 from without, with the supposed tenants, whose silence excited sur- 

 prise, the vestry door was wrenched open. The state of confusion 

 which it displayed glasses and bottles, and the smoky fumes of the 

 night's debauch, petrified with horror, the sober-minded clergyman 

 and his attendants; but their alarm at removing the surplices and 

 clerical gowns from the bodies which they concealed, was past all 

 description. The truth was now clear pursuers were dispatched in 

 every direction, and immediate notice given at the police offices, but 

 to no avail. Our leading actor having reached home, so completely 

 altered his appearance, that he became, in a few miuntes, one of the 

 most sober-looking of the whole congregation, and as violent, as any, 

 in indignation. Being a man of some influence, his advice was taken: 

 in the course of but a short time, the bodies were replaced in their 

 final resting place, and,, quietly redeposited in the vault. The services 

 of the day were entered upon, and conducted with as much order and 

 regularity as the circumstances would allow; and, immediately after, 

 the stone was securely replaced at the mouth of the tomb, by attend- 

 dant workmen; and / was consigned, for a while, to that living 

 death, the horrible remembrance of which haunts me to this day, and 

 is, even in my dreams, continually before me, in all the vivid fresh- 

 ness of reality. 



But how shall I attempt to picture the scenery of that dreadful 

 night the terrors of the place the horrible conceits and loathsome 

 smells, which tormented me. I must have remained, for some time, 

 asleep and insensible of my situation ; arid when, for the first time, I 

 awoke to feeling, and half unclosed my hesitating eye, alike careless 

 and unconscious of my position. I well remember the faint cold 

 thrill which passed through my veins, as if it would freeze up the 

 fountains of my existence. Raising myself up gently and timidly, 

 I endeavoured to look around to recognise some features, by which to 

 ascertain where I was, but all was dark. Faintly recalling the events 

 of the preceding night, I imagined that I had been taken in my 

 intoxication, and conveyed to the black hole of the watch-house, and 

 in this apprehension, I consoled myself for a time. Finding my rest- 

 ing place hard and damp, and comfortless, I arose, and in so doing, 

 struck my head against the lower part of the arched roof. Compelled 

 from the violence of the blow to sit down, I found myself resting on 

 a coffin, broken and mouldering, which gave way beneath my weight 

 then it was, that the knowledge of my real situation, first broke 

 upon me. I, who in my ordinary avocations in the path of my 

 duties, could deal with death in all its forms, without the slightest 

 reluctance, was now suddenly paralysed with horror, at finding my- 

 self alone in that foul vault, to which no wholesome air breathed in. 

 My seat having broken from under me, I suddenly felt almost stifled 

 the dust of earthly decay arose around me, and increased the 

 parchedness of my fevered lips the pollution seemed to cling to 

 mo, as glad to be once again united to any thing living. Shuddering 

 with horror. I endeavoured to shake it from me, but in vain. Rush- 



